Tuesday kicked off with the question of the day...Have you ever been on an airpalne. We learned that there are a greater number of friends in our class that have been on airplane. 27 friends have been on an airplane and 13 friends have We wote a number sentence to reflect this (27>13). During morning meeting we also practiced identifying coins and determining how much each coin is worth. We learned a special chant to help us with this. Ask your child if they remember this chant. Aslo, at home or at the store ask your child to help you determine the names of the coins and their values. After morning meeting, we began reading workshop. Today during our mini lesson, we learned another convention that can be found in non-ficition texts, Comaprisons. Ask your child if they can tell you how a comparison helps you as a reader. To end our morning we spent time on our word study routine for Tuesday, resort and write.
In the afternoon, we read a scholastic news about Bats. We learned many interesting facts about bats. We learned that bats have ears and fur. Ask you child to share with you other interesting things they learned about bats! We then started writing. The students worked very hard on "fancying" up their how to wriitng so that they are ready to share it at our publishing party on Friday. Students are working on adding transition words, a title, and a lead to their writing. We ended our day with a quick number talk aroound story problems. The stduents are working on using startegies such as counting on, using their fingers, drawing pictures, and wriign a number sentence to solve story problems.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Monday, January 26th
We had a great start to a new week today. This morning our question of the day was Do you have long hair. We learned that 25 friends have short hair and 13 friends have short hair. We wrote a number sentence to shor that 25 is greater than 13
(25>13). After our morning meeting, we started reading workshop. Some friends enjoyed a poem called Mis Zapatos. Other friends read a poem today called Chubby Little Snowman. We hunted for words that have the "ch" sound in them as well as for the sight word little. Ask your child to "act out" the poem for you. During the daily five, small groups of students met with Senorita Wesley and Mrs. Helfer to get introduced to their new word study pattern for the week. We ended the morning with a visit from Mrs. DeCaire from the Department of Motor Vehicles. She taught us important information about how to stay safe in the care. Ask your child what they learned about seat belt safety today.
We started our afternoon with a non-fiction read aloud about Sea Turtles. We started with a discussion about what we thought we knew about these creatures and the questions that we had about them. During our reading we located many different conventions that we have been talking about like the table of contents and bold words. The captions helped us really understand what was going on in the pictures. We also learned a lot of new information about sea turtles. Ask your child to share with you what they learned about these special animals. After our read aloud we exercised our hands and our arms and then the red rhinos practiced letter "R" and the green gators practiced the letter "Q." To end the afternoon we had a number talk around a story problem and continued to our study of geometry by working on our shape puzzles.
(25>13). After our morning meeting, we started reading workshop. Some friends enjoyed a poem called Mis Zapatos. Other friends read a poem today called Chubby Little Snowman. We hunted for words that have the "ch" sound in them as well as for the sight word little. Ask your child to "act out" the poem for you. During the daily five, small groups of students met with Senorita Wesley and Mrs. Helfer to get introduced to their new word study pattern for the week. We ended the morning with a visit from Mrs. DeCaire from the Department of Motor Vehicles. She taught us important information about how to stay safe in the care. Ask your child what they learned about seat belt safety today.
We started our afternoon with a non-fiction read aloud about Sea Turtles. We started with a discussion about what we thought we knew about these creatures and the questions that we had about them. During our reading we located many different conventions that we have been talking about like the table of contents and bold words. The captions helped us really understand what was going on in the pictures. We also learned a lot of new information about sea turtles. Ask your child to share with you what they learned about these special animals. After our read aloud we exercised our hands and our arms and then the red rhinos practiced letter "R" and the green gators practiced the letter "Q." To end the afternoon we had a number talk around a story problem and continued to our study of geometry by working on our shape puzzles.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Thursday, January 22nd
Today we worked very hard. This morning our morning message was in Spanish. We did a great job filling in words like hoy, de, son, el and punctuation marks like the exclamation point. The question of the day today was...How do you get to your favorite returant (Como Vas a tu restaurante favorito?). We learned that 37 people get to their favorite resturant by car and 4 people get to their favorite resturant by bycicle. We wrote the number sentence 37>4. During reading workshop, we learned another convention that we find in non-fiction texts. We learned that sometimes the author uses close-ups to help the reader see tiny details in very small objects. Today's word study activity was speed sort. Mrs. Helfer and Mrs. Wesley were amazed at how quickly some of us were able to sort our words!
We started our afternoon off with writing workshop. The Green Gators continued their work on their "How To Books. " Today we learned how to examine our written work to make sure that we have not forgotten any of the important steps that someone would need to take when following our directions. Mrs. Helfer is impressed at our use of leads to draw the reader in and our ability to use transition words like next, then, and after that. The red rhinos also worked on their how to books and used our writing partenrs to help them check their writing to be sure that had not forgotten any important steps int heir directions. We ended the afternoon with mathematics. We once again began with a number talk around a story problem. We are getting pretty good at learning to identify what the problem is asking us to do and developing a strategy for solving the problem. After our number talk, the green gators got out the number line. They practiced identifying numbers, determining greater than and less than, and figuring out how many more. After our number line work, we worked on using shapes to fill in puzzles. We are learning that there are some special relationships that exist among 2-D shapes. We learned that the same area can be filled in by 1 hexagon, 6 triangles, 3 rhombus, and 2 trapezoids. The red rhinos also worked on using shapes to fill in puzzles and creating a desing using a certain number of shapes. Mrs. Wesley is proud of the rhinos for knowing how to say their shapes in spanish!
We started our afternoon off with writing workshop. The Green Gators continued their work on their "How To Books. " Today we learned how to examine our written work to make sure that we have not forgotten any of the important steps that someone would need to take when following our directions. Mrs. Helfer is impressed at our use of leads to draw the reader in and our ability to use transition words like next, then, and after that. The red rhinos also worked on their how to books and used our writing partenrs to help them check their writing to be sure that had not forgotten any important steps int heir directions. We ended the afternoon with mathematics. We once again began with a number talk around a story problem. We are getting pretty good at learning to identify what the problem is asking us to do and developing a strategy for solving the problem. After our number talk, the green gators got out the number line. They practiced identifying numbers, determining greater than and less than, and figuring out how many more. After our number line work, we worked on using shapes to fill in puzzles. We are learning that there are some special relationships that exist among 2-D shapes. We learned that the same area can be filled in by 1 hexagon, 6 triangles, 3 rhombus, and 2 trapezoids. The red rhinos also worked on using shapes to fill in puzzles and creating a desing using a certain number of shapes. Mrs. Wesley is proud of the rhinos for knowing how to say their shapes in spanish!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Wednesday, January 21st 2009
Today was another busy day! In the morning, our quewstion of the day was, what is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? We learned that 29 of our friends liked eating pizza, which was greater than our friends who liked eating spaghetti or a sandwich.
During Reading workshop, we continued our study of non-fictions conventions, and learned about captions, and how we use them to help us understand what is happening in the photographs. We then practiced looking for captions and photographs in the non-fiction books we have in our room.
During writing, we learned about leads, and how they can help us make our writing more interesting to our readers. We learned that phrases such as: Would you like to learn how to ________? and Have you ever ______? were great ways to get our readers excited to read our How-To books.
During Math, we continued to use word problems involving subtraction and addition and efficient strategies to help us solve these problems. We are really working on using word problems and how we can use different strategies to help us.
During Reading workshop, we continued our study of non-fictions conventions, and learned about captions, and how we use them to help us understand what is happening in the photographs. We then practiced looking for captions and photographs in the non-fiction books we have in our room.
During writing, we learned about leads, and how they can help us make our writing more interesting to our readers. We learned that phrases such as: Would you like to learn how to ________? and Have you ever ______? were great ways to get our readers excited to read our How-To books.
During Math, we continued to use word problems involving subtraction and addition and efficient strategies to help us solve these problems. We are really working on using word problems and how we can use different strategies to help us.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009
What an exciting day for our friends in C-7 and C-8! We had a busy morning cutting our words for word study. During our morning meeting, we practiced the words Presidente and Barack Obama in Spanish, as we prepared to watch the Inauguration on t.v. today. Our question of the day was: Te gusta el brocoli? We learned that 26 of our friends do like broccoli, while 14 friends did not like broccoli, and 1 friend had never tried it before. During Reading workshop, we practiced our word study sorts for the week, and practicing our Daily Five activities. After lunch, we watched the Inaguration on t.v, and learned more about our new President, Barack Obama. We learned that he is our first African-American President, is our 44th President, and he has two daughters who are in elementary school. After watching the inaguration on tv, we read a Weekly Reader in Spanish learning more about our new President Obama, his family, and his duties as our new President. Ask your child about what they learned about our new President today.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Wednesday, January 14th
This morning our question of the day was which is your favorite...Corn, Peas, or Carrots. We learned that the greatest number of friends in our class like corn. The least number of friends like peas.This morning we contniued our study of non-ficiton texts. We worked on our how-to books in writing and in reading workshop, we learned that maps are a convention that can be found in non-ficition texts. Ask your child to explain how maps help the reader understand the text they are reading.
We started the afternoon with a non-ficition read aloud. We are learning so much about ants. We learned that they go through the pupa, larva, and adult stages and that they are eaten by ant eaters. Ask your child to share with you other things that they have learned about ants. We also partcipated in making words. The green gators worked on "and" words. They built the words sand, band, and land. The red rhinos bulit words that had the "ack" pattern. They bulit the words sack, rack and tack. We also practiced our handwriting. The red rhinos learned lower case letter b and the green gators worked on making the letter Q. In math gators and rhinos continued their study of geometry.
We started the afternoon with a non-ficition read aloud. We are learning so much about ants. We learned that they go through the pupa, larva, and adult stages and that they are eaten by ant eaters. Ask your child to share with you other things that they have learned about ants. We also partcipated in making words. The green gators worked on "and" words. They built the words sand, band, and land. The red rhinos bulit words that had the "ack" pattern. They bulit the words sack, rack and tack. We also practiced our handwriting. The red rhinos learned lower case letter b and the green gators worked on making the letter Q. In math gators and rhinos continued their study of geometry.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
Today was another busy day! In the morning, our question of the day was: Which aninmal would you like to be: an elephant, or a monkey? We learned that more of our friends would rather be an elephant than a monkey, and using numbers, 25 is greater than 13. We also welcomed our new student, Jarel, to our classroom who joins us from his kindergarten class in Puerto Rico. We practiced asking him questions in Spanish and introduced ourselves in Spanish as well.
During Reading Workshop, we practiced the Daily Five, and worked on our word study sort activity, which was sort and re-write. During math today, the red rhinos continued to work with different shapes, and using our spatial reasoning to arrange certain shapes within a certain figure, then counting the total number of shapes used in the given figure.
During Reading Workshop, we practiced the Daily Five, and worked on our word study sort activity, which was sort and re-write. During math today, the red rhinos continued to work with different shapes, and using our spatial reasoning to arrange certain shapes within a certain figure, then counting the total number of shapes used in the given figure.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Monday, January 12th
We were excited to get back to work today. This morning our question of the day was How do you feel when it rains? We learned that the greates number of friends like it when it rains and it makes them feel happy. The least number of friends felt sad or angry when it rains. During reading workshop, we read a new poem and added this poem to our poetry notebook. Some friends read a poem about Snowflakes and some friends read Los Sapitos, or The little Frogs, in Spanish. Ask your child to tell them what the poem they read was about. After enjoying a poem together, the red rhinos and the green gators spent time practicing reading at their daily five choices. Mrs. Helfer and Senorita Wesley worked with small groups to introduce students to their new word study patterns. Please see the note in your child's Monday folder that describes the students' new word study routines.
In the afternoon, we continued our non-fiction read aloud with a bilingual book about Ants, or Hormigas. We continued to fill out our KWL chart about Ants, including what we think we know, questions that we have, and new information. During handwriting, the green gators practiced the letter O, while the red rhinos reviewed the ltters u, i, k, y, j, and e. During math, the red rhinos practiced another word problem using shapes, and different number sentence combinations for a total of 15 different shapes. The green gators practiced using their number lines, and used pattern blocks to create a figure, and then replicate it using paper pattern pieces.
In the afternoon, we continued our non-fiction read aloud with a bilingual book about Ants, or Hormigas. We continued to fill out our KWL chart about Ants, including what we think we know, questions that we have, and new information. During handwriting, the green gators practiced the letter O, while the red rhinos reviewed the ltters u, i, k, y, j, and e. During math, the red rhinos practiced another word problem using shapes, and different number sentence combinations for a total of 15 different shapes. The green gators practiced using their number lines, and used pattern blocks to create a figure, and then replicate it using paper pattern pieces.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Thursday, January 8th, 2009
Today was another busy day! In the morning, our question of the day was: Do you have a red coat? We learned that only 6 of our friends had red coats, and that 35 friends did not have red coats. We also helped fill in words and letters in words during our morning message. We heard a funny joke: Why did the bat brush his teeth? Ask your child if they know the answer to the joke!
During writing workshop, we continued to elaborate with our How-To books. The children enjoyed helping Mrs. Helfer and Senorita Wesley make chocolate milk, and learned how important it is to tell specific details.
During Reader's Workshop, we learned about a new convention--the Index, which is found at the back of the book. We now know that the Index helps us to find specific words that might not be found in the Table of Contents. We had fun looking for examples of an Index in the non-fiction books in our room.
During word study today, we learned a new activity that we will do every Thursday, and starting next week will become a part of our weekly homework assignments. This activity is called Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check. The students practiced writing their words one at a time first in pencil, then in crayon, and finally in marker to help us study our words for our test tomorrow.
During our read aloud about Hippos, we learned that they have sharp, scissor-like teeth, and tusks to protect themselves. Many of our friends have been enjoying our non-fiction books, and learning about different animals. Please encourage your child to check out non-fiction books at the library and to read them at home during their nightly reading time.
During writing workshop, we continued to elaborate with our How-To books. The children enjoyed helping Mrs. Helfer and Senorita Wesley make chocolate milk, and learned how important it is to tell specific details.
During Reader's Workshop, we learned about a new convention--the Index, which is found at the back of the book. We now know that the Index helps us to find specific words that might not be found in the Table of Contents. We had fun looking for examples of an Index in the non-fiction books in our room.
During word study today, we learned a new activity that we will do every Thursday, and starting next week will become a part of our weekly homework assignments. This activity is called Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check. The students practiced writing their words one at a time first in pencil, then in crayon, and finally in marker to help us study our words for our test tomorrow.
During our read aloud about Hippos, we learned that they have sharp, scissor-like teeth, and tusks to protect themselves. Many of our friends have been enjoying our non-fiction books, and learning about different animals. Please encourage your child to check out non-fiction books at the library and to read them at home during their nightly reading time.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Wednesday, January 7th
Today was a very busy day! In the morning, we had our morning message in spanish, and practiced filling in missing letters and numbers in spanish. Our question of the day was "Do you like non-fiction books?" We learned that almost all of our friends like non-fiction books.
During reading workshop, we started learning about the different conventions that we find in non-fiction texts. We started learning about the Table of Contents, and how helpful the Table of Contents is when we are looking for a specific topic, because it will tell us what page that topic is on. We also started a new routine called "making words". The Red Rhinos practiced making words like at, bat, and cat, while the green gators practiced words like he, she, we, and me.
We continued our non-fiction reading about hippos. Today we learned that the bigger hippos eat, or graze, at night, so that their enemies don't eat them.
During writing workshop, we continued with our How-To books, and started using our outlines to help us write our how-to books and add more details to help our reader follow the directions step-by-step.
In math, the green gators practiced subtraction with word problems, and using different strategies to help them solve them problem. The red rhinos talked about 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional shapes and drew shapes that we found around the room, and described them.
During reading workshop, we started learning about the different conventions that we find in non-fiction texts. We started learning about the Table of Contents, and how helpful the Table of Contents is when we are looking for a specific topic, because it will tell us what page that topic is on. We also started a new routine called "making words". The Red Rhinos practiced making words like at, bat, and cat, while the green gators practiced words like he, she, we, and me.
We continued our non-fiction reading about hippos. Today we learned that the bigger hippos eat, or graze, at night, so that their enemies don't eat them.
During writing workshop, we continued with our How-To books, and started using our outlines to help us write our how-to books and add more details to help our reader follow the directions step-by-step.
In math, the green gators practiced subtraction with word problems, and using different strategies to help them solve them problem. The red rhinos talked about 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional shapes and drew shapes that we found around the room, and described them.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Tuesday, January 6th
What a busy Tuesday we had today! We were excited to learn that today is 3 Kings Day. Many of our friends shared that they recieved special gifts at home from the 3 kings. A big thank you to Elias and his family for sending in a gift for our class. Elias and his family purchased some Spanish books on CD for our class to enjoy. We enjoyed listening to the story Cinderella and Snow White today. This morning our question of the day was... Did you wear your hat to school today? We learned that 17 people did wear a hat to school and that 14 people did not wear a hat today. We practced using a greater than sign (>) to write a number sentence that says 17 is greater than 14. During writing workshop, we continued working on writing our "How to Books." Today we began planning our books on special paper. We worked on sketching each step of the topic that we were writing about and then began to write words to describe each step. Ask your child what their "How to Book" will teach others. During our Reading Workshop mini lesson, we began talking about non-fiction texts. We created a chart that showed the information that we "THINK" we know about non-ficiton texts, Information that was confirmed through research, New Information, and questions we have about non-fiction texts. Our teachers were surprised to see how much we already know about non-fiction texts.
This afternoon,we continued reading our non-fiction story about Hippos. We are learning so much about these amazing animals. Ask you child what interesting facts they have learned about hippos. This afternoon we also practiced our word study words. Many kindergartners learned some new routines for practicing their words!
This afternoon,we continued reading our non-fiction story about Hippos. We are learning so much about these amazing animals. Ask you child what interesting facts they have learned about hippos. This afternoon we also practiced our word study words. Many kindergartners learned some new routines for practicing their words!
Monday, January 5, 2009
Monday, January 5th 2009
Our first day of school back in 2009 was busy! We started off our day with new word study sorts for the week. Our question of the day was: Did you have a good vacation? We learned that almost all of our friends did have a great vacation. During writing workshop, we graduated to our new topic: How To-books. We have started our unit learning about how to write step-by step directions to teach someone something. We started brainstorming ideas to write about, and are going to begin our step-by-step directions tomorrow. During reading workshop, we read our new poems: The Warm, Wooly, White, Winter Mitten and The Life of Father Christmas. Our friends who practiced the Mitten learned a new word: numb, and our friends who read the poem about Father Christmas learned what we use accents for, and practiced finding them in the poem.
This afternoon, we began our read aloud learning about non-fiction. We talked about what we think we know about non-fiction, what we have questions about, and used this when we read our book about Hippos. During our read aloud about hippos, we learned that their babies weigh 85 pounds, and they drink milk. In handwriting, the red rhinos reviewed the lowercase letter y, and the green gators practiced the letter Z.
During math, the green gators practiced using a life-sized number line to walk on and reviewed more than and less than. They also read a book, and thought about things in our world that are made of different shapes. The red rhinos practiced using a tens-frame, and reviewed ones and tens place. They also started a new unit on Geometry, and reviewed 2-dimensional shapes, as well as started learning new terms for 3-dimensional shapes.
This afternoon, we began our read aloud learning about non-fiction. We talked about what we think we know about non-fiction, what we have questions about, and used this when we read our book about Hippos. During our read aloud about hippos, we learned that their babies weigh 85 pounds, and they drink milk. In handwriting, the red rhinos reviewed the lowercase letter y, and the green gators practiced the letter Z.
During math, the green gators practiced using a life-sized number line to walk on and reviewed more than and less than. They also read a book, and thought about things in our world that are made of different shapes. The red rhinos practiced using a tens-frame, and reviewed ones and tens place. They also started a new unit on Geometry, and reviewed 2-dimensional shapes, as well as started learning new terms for 3-dimensional shapes.
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